Review: Selfies, Visas and How I Pay for my Dinners at Old Red Lion Theatre, West End Comedy Club & Etcetera Theatre

‘Crossing borders, Anna reflects on how her identity is perceived, using humour to make fun of these cultural perceptions’ ★★★★

Anna, the performer and writer, invites the audience into a fun, light-hearted, and kitsch world through aerobics-inspired dance, wearing flashy blue and red leggings. But the real show begins when she calls off the show. Admitting the difficulty of making shows in a new country as a migrant artist, she talks about her dream shows and her journey till the present day.

Being born in Belarus, she always wanted to escape her home country and hated her own roots. She says it was because of the dictatorship and totalitarian regime that drove her from her home, but by the end of the show, it becomes clear that what truly made her an outsider was not just political oppression, but the cultural colonialism by the first world, Western countries. In her quest for hope, she learns the language of the most influential colonizers-English-through pop songs like Candy shop by 50 Cent:

"I'll take you to the candy shop
I'll let you lick the lollipop
Go 'head, girl, don't you stop
Keep goin' 'til you hit the spot, whoa"

Her journey takes an unexpected turn when her plans to move to the U.S. were thwarted by the Belarusian government. Instead, she finds herself migrating to India, captivated by the glamour of Bollywood. Through playful satire, she explores people’s perceptions of sexual prejudice and learns how to "sell" everything: "Selling is about inhale and exhale!" After 11 years of living in India as a white Eastern European woman, she finally moves to the country of her childhood dream, England! She humorously declares herself a philanthropist for contributing so much money to the NHS for the sake of getting a visa.

As she crosses borders, Anna reflects on how her identity is perceived differently in each place. Instead of expressing anger, she uses humour to make fun of these cultural perceptions, even jokingly asking for an audition to be a wife in order to secure citizenship. The show culminates in a playful "teapot sacrament" as she dons a Union Jack bikini and umbrella. She repeatedly tells the audience, "The real show is out there," but we can clearly see and hear what she calls “the heartbeat of the space,” a moment of transcendence she describes earlier in the show: "When you're in a theatre, time travels."

Ultimately, this performance serves as Anna’s heartfelt campaign to renew her visa in the form of a self-confession. It's not just a reflection on modern diaspora experiences, but a broader commentary on living as an outsider, cultural colonialism, and her "christening" ceremony to become British enough, a citizen of a first-world country.

Written and performed by:  Anastasiya Ador

Venue and Dates:

Old Red Lion Theatre/19th+20th September

West End Comedy Club / 25th September

https://westendcomedy.co.uk/shows/selfies-visas-and-how-i-pay-for-my-dinners/

Etcetera Theatre / 8th October

https://www.citizenticket.com/events/etcetera-theatre/selfies-visas-and-how-i-pay-for-my-dinners/

Bio of Reviewer:

Namoo is a director, playwright and librettist from Korea. Her work has been performed in the UK, USA, South Korea and Japan and recently, she was the finalist for the New York Dramatist Guild’s National Fellowship in New York, USA. She holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck College, London and an MFA in playwriting from the Tisch School of Arts, New York.